Dedication of Joe Black Baseball Field
Hub Stine Sports Complex
Plainfield, New Jersey
Saturday, September 25, 2010
10:00 a.m.

At the Business Meeting of July 20, 2010, the Plainfield Board of Education approved a resolution renaming the baseball field after Plainfielder Joe Black.

The resolution reads:

The Plainfield Board of Education is committed to ensuring that all students succeed academically and reach their full potential in life. In accordance with this commitment, Joe Black was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey and was a 1942 graduate of Plainfield High School, having been named Plainfield High School Athlete of the Year in 1942.
Joe Black brought pride to himself, his family and his community by his myriad of accomplishments which include playing baseball for the Negro League Team in Baltimore, Maryland for many years; being named National League Rookie of the Year in 1952 when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers; and being the first African-American to pitch a winning World Series Game, also in 1952 against the New York Yankees.

After leaving baseball, Joe Black, taught physical education in the Plainfield Public Schools for several years and thereby impacted many young people with his display of intellect, dignity and humanity. He later joined corporate America and rose to the level of Vice-President of the Greyhound Bus Company. Joe Black’s life example is worthy and deserving of being honored, remembered and passed on to future generations.